I sit down next to sunny as the meeting starts.
"Ah. Ascended Jet, Ascended Winter, Ascended Dale, ■■■■, Sunless... welcome. Sorry for the sudden invitation."
He looks tired. This situation is likely very very distressing for him. His wife is fighting a corrupted titan. She will lose sooner or later.
"War waits for no one. What did you want to discuss?"
He smiles slightly as I start going through my bag
"Straight to business... well, it is for the best. There is not much time to prepare."
As he's about to walk away i hand him a jacket i made for him, and another for the best of the best sky tide, Saint Tyris.
I end up being one of the last people there. Im mostly waiting for sunny to leave when he speaks
"You must have heard that another of Valor's Saints was killed."
I'm sorry what happened? No no no, a saint has fallen?
"You and I have helped that monster escape from the Night Temple. If it weren't for you, I would have been dead, and Mordret would have still been contained. Do you regret saving us now that he is out there, slaughtering people?"
She doesn't speak for a while then shakes her head as calm as ever, yet I doubt she's that calm
"No."
The best of the best. Sunny studies her for a while before speaking
"Why?"
She sighs softly clearly feeling obligated to explain but still feeling reluctant
"Years ago, when the young Prince of War came to the Chained Isles, I offered him my hospitality. Like any other Awakened, he was under my protection... roaming the Dream Realm in search of something, much like you did. When Valor plotted to ambush and eliminate him, I followed orders and did nothing to prevent it. I have carried the shame of that wrongdoing ever since."
Sunny stays silent for a bit before speaking. I understand, I really do having to give up what you believe because those in charge tell you to something is a horrible situation.
"They had a very good reason to get rid of him, though. That guy is like a Nightmare Creature. There's not much human left in him."
I shake my head
"No I thinks its that he's too human"
The three turn their heads to look at me, I see that its sunny who's the most confused
"Its not that humanity is hateful, in my view humanity is a race of extremes and contradictions. Are those not words that, mirror, that guy very well?"
Sunny stares at me and Saint Tyris nods
"I have to agree those are both things that man seems to exemplify quite well. Is it worth it, to do the wrong thing for the right reason? No. Life is unpredictable, and the future is unclear. All we can strive for is to act according to our principles, and do what we consider right. The rest doesn't matter."
Yeah. I suppose that's would be the view of someone like her, someone ambitious enough to become a saint. I'm.... I'm not very ambitious I think.
"Doing the right thing is what got you and your clan banished to this hellhole."
She looks out the window, I'm not sure what exactly she's feeling. This all.... it can't be the best feeling to be trapped in this hell.
"The sky is suffocating here. But other than that... this is precisely where I wanted to be."
I'm taking another walk. Its a very good destresser. When I see D, I shouldn't call him that. I'll call him el.
"Oh its been a while"
He smiles
"I must agree, it is sad we aren't sent on many missions together"
I shrug
"I guess our fighting styles just don't mesh too well. It doesn't matter we will be working together more anyways"
He nods
"So you seem to be around Ascended Sunless quite a bit, i have to ask, why?"
I shrug
"I don't like being on my own much. I've had enough of that and its just frankly boring"
He nods with a smile
"You know i thought you where going to be the exact opposite in all honesty. But never judge a book by its cover"
My eyes narrow
"Isn't that why a cover is made? It's not all a book should be judged for but it really is the best method when picking up a random book"
I grip my halberd watching the cloud. Their inside it aren't they. I... I hope their all okay. I hope he's okay. It all feels so grim, when did I start getting involved in shit like this? Was it back on the forgotten shores, or was it when I pushed noble off a cliff? I don't know.
Thats when a woman falls from the sky, I make a large bed of snow to catch her, it would have hurt a lot if she had fallen on the metal wall. She gets up with a grimace, I move forward faster then el to catch her.
"What happened to sending us a signal? Where's the Tyrant?"
Her voice comes out scratchy from a mix a lot of things, most of all the cold air no doubt.
"Two. There's two of them..."
Well thats...not good to say the least. I can't say I'm too sure we will win.
"So where are they?"
The legacy, I had seen her in the sanctuary before, i think I fixed something for her, a nightstand I think, leans on me more.
"The....signal..."
Just then two lights brighten the world.
I move with el and sunny, I had sent singer off with J.
"We will have to fight our way through."
I suppose that makes sense
"I'll clear the way, you follow."
Sunny looks out at the dammed beasts
"What about when we reach the Tyrant? We can't allow it to escape, and with Master Jet gone..."
Does he really think we cant kill one little fallen tyrant, we did that when we where sleepers, now shouldn't be a problem
"I'll trap it and us within the barrier. Then, either the Tyrant dies, or we do. No one will escape."
Well then isn't that a grim thought.
We run together, snow being kicked up as we do. I'm holding many off with snow storm but I have to be smart in how I use it. With it being so taxing and all. Chains and hands made of shadow rip countless of them apart
"If you have a good Memory or two, use them now!"
I hear el take something off his belt and for a second everything gets bright and countless are dead. I keep moving forwards
"That one has to accumulate charges for a long time! We won't be able to use it against the Tyrant..."
I scoff
"Well maybe it will be refilled by the time we find that damn tyrant!"
I finally see it and...
"God its ugly..."
It is one ugly thing. I don't like bugs, or whatever spiders are too, and this 3 headed thing is even uglier then normal.
"It's now or never."
As el moves to trap it, the ugly thing seems to sense us and it tries and fails to fly away. When it falls to the ground it starts running
"I'll slow it down! Catch up as fast as you can and set up the barrier!"
Sunny turns to a shadow rushing past us. Just when we can be seen from the walls sunny overtakes it and comes out from the shadows. It goes to attack when.... a saw shoots past sunny into one of its legs, it spins and spins cutting off one of its legs. Its.... when in the good hell did she learn to do that!? Doesn't matter. Shadow hands press the tyrant down.
When it tries to fly a dome of light appears trapping it in. El smashes one of its legs and I get a good cut on one of its three ugly ugly heads. It screams again, and so does the helm of screams. The mix of sunnys creepy sword and the heavy mind attack does numbers on the things mind. Soon I manage even for a second to get on top of the thing and I freeze one wing solid instantly. I pay for that in a chunk on my side. I fall off, a well more jump to stop it from rolling on me. Just as i do el takes a head off.
Just as sunny is thrown into the barrier breaking it the tyrant is killed. I summon the commanders authority healing me and el a small amount. This thing is useful, able to keep a charge of the effect of someone's aspect and all. I run over to sunny he's beat up but doesn't need healing thankfully. As i go to help him stand i notice his face twist in a mix of horror, fear, and.... is that guilt. When I look up there's a... guy? A master i think...?
"...V-Verne?"
Oh that doesn't seem good. He tries to scramble away with a kind of feral desperation i don't normally see in him.
"■■■■, ■■■■ please, please you can see them right?"
I lift my halberd
"What do you take me for?"
More and more people come out from the ocean.
"Of course I can."
I step to the side of v something, or what was probably him, moves forward. I block a heavy strike sending me and sunny flying back. I move in the air to take most of the impact. He gets up as el runs over
"Dale! Do you see them?!"
He looks at the army coming out of the ocean
"What are you talking about?"
For a second I see sunny's face fall.
"How would I miss thousands of creatures crawling from the ocean? Of course, I see them. Question is, why are the wall armaments still silent?"
Sunnys tone is more desperate then it means to be probably
"It's the Terror of LO49! The wretched thing is messing with people's minds! We need to..."
The mass moves forward as lights shine on them bullets come soon after
I fly through the air paying no mind to my essence. I land and start running to catch up with sunny. I catch my breath as he speaks to N
"-data. Basically, they are shooting blindly in the direction where we point."
Sunny looks at his face his eyes a little wide
"Where's Bloodwave?" Na points to where the saint is
"Protecting the ships. Why?"
"This battle can't be won unless the source of the hex is destroyed. The Terror of LO49... we need to find and kill it. Staying on the defensive will only allow that fiend to propagate its influence throughout the city, killing countless people and growing its army. The House of Night and your Saint are our best bet."
As we get to where we will need to dive to get to the house of night saint a small ice shard flies over, all alone behind me.
"Air?"
N looks at me then takes my hand giving me a memory. I take off the helm of screams tying it around my waist and I summon my new memory, long forgotten, its a massive dive helmet. Its a little heavy but I get the air I need. I look down at the water, I shake my head and I jump in.
I summon cetus. Its a... fish man, still a little weird looking. Even after it had became a transcendent monster, if a little more freaky. I bear hug the slippery thing and it swims forwards. That is... a massive blue whale. Weren't they already really big, isn't that like the whole thing with whales. The whole ocean gets tinted red as we approach. Are they able to talk?
"As i said to sunless, My uncle agrees. We have to kill the Terror."
I active the helm
"Good then let's go already"
He jumps a little
"oh, sunless could not do that... are you good with mind attacks?"
I nod
"Can't explain but yes."
We swim down. Or well bloodwave swims down with the two masters hugging the whale like those fish that stick to sharks. I however am... doing the same with my ice shard. God damn this place is dark. I'm lucky I have some night vision, mic that with the owls eye and I'm good but still. Its probably cold too. Poor nightwalkers, they seem like the least annoying little pansy bitches of the three great clans. Other then the best of the best. Thats good distract from the terror of the ocean... now I'm thinking about it again. Damn it.
We finally see the Terror and.... its oddly pretty. It really is like some kind of flower. But its not a flower, by how heat moves in it, its a fabric. Wait those are bodies. Ew. Puppet corpses. The water is tinted red and oh boy is that anger? Well let's.... let's fight this thing then. The puppets are thrown forward and I keep moving forwards. Well my echo does. I get to the first and I grab it. As it cracks from the water pressure the spell speaks. So its that easy? Well this won't be a problem then.
Cetus takes me from one to another as I rack up the fragments. I slam into one that was about to hit N and it shatters a moment later. I had noticed how... good sunny is getting at this, I'm just using my ice shard.... a little embarrassing. I'm swam around by cetus going from one puppet to another. Hey...hey maybe the ocean isn't the worst thing to ever exist...
I'm thrown like a pinball into a massive of puppets by accident. As i freeze them i feel bloodwave go still. "N whats..." its the terrors silk. It wraps around me. For a second it all goes away. "Heat Seeker" who's voice was that? What is that in my mind? For a second I feel something almost nightmarish trying to overtake my thoughts, before for only a millisecond something seems to... devour it, no more wage war, either way that feeling gets rid of that pressure like it was fire burning at paper. That feeling, it was far more scary, as it was fully comprehensible. It was pure insanity, like nothing I've ever felt, it had anger but that wasn't the most of it. Sunny. It happened to sunny as well.
Ice freezes the silk and cetus slices it apart cutting me out. It grabs me and we almost seem to fly through the water. I notice it start shaking, no writhing like a worm in pain. Sunny cuts his way out. As he does it grab him. "No time to waste. Kill it" and we start moving at the top speed it can go. I feel sunny tense as we enter the middle of the silken lotus. It dives through the silk we finally make out the body of the terror and I throw sunny forwards.
I grab onto bloodwave this time as we go up. As the terror is being carried by my ice shard, its too valuable to let sink. My essence is a little shot but I do put in some to heal sunny with commanders authority. We make it to land and I lay on the sand. "No more ocean time for me." My voice is a little echoy in the helmet. I get up and I start moving towards the battlement. "And what's your problem fish boy...."
A strong wind ripps past me getting to the battlement first. So many bodies. Inside is find
"DALE!"
He's hurt, very much so. Standing over him.... is kelly facing the walls. I run over to him, hes very injured... but hes alive! I use what's left of my essence to heal as much as I can. "I'm.... I'm alive... I didn't think I'd live through this one..." i flop down next to him. Kelly stares at bloodwave and he stares back. She's... mangled, around her is bodies and broken ice statues.... their both here too. Adam, luke.
Her back starts shaking as i go to at least try to comfort her, her head snaps up, she's laughing, as silent as all of my summons are. She lifts her shield a saw still spinning. Her left arm... no most of her left side is gone her helmet is completely broken. As she laughs she finally breaks into pieces. It won't be the end of course, when she's healed ill summon her back.